2013: What The Fuck Is Going On? KLF record catalog undeleted for digital release in the UK…then re-deleted

Do you know what it means to be Justified and Ancient? Have you ever been to the White Room? But most importantly, What. Time. Is. Love? The KLF, also known as The Timelords and/or The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu (or JAMs), asked these questions, and in so doing became the most subversive (and brilliant) musical duo to ever grace the UK, or anywhere. Mashups? They made a #1 hit out of one in 1986, then wrote the book on how to repeat that success. Genre creation? Their Pure Trance series of releases helped create acid house. Artistic subversion? How about guerilla advertising, street art, and the most ridiculous performances possible? Good hell, were it not for them, Banksy would have never left Bristol, and M.I.A. would never have gotten married to the son of a music label exec and used some of his money to bankroll a music video about murdering gingers.

There is a reason they never get much noise out here, though: in 1992, after pulling off their final act (a performance at The Brits that included firing machine gun blanks into the crowd), they departed the industry, and pulled their second-most subversive act: deleting their entire back catalog*. (Their most subversive act was burning 1 million pounds sterling (equivalent to $3 million today)… and filming the act.) This meant that getting their albums and singles, including Chill Out and The White Room, would be nigh-impossible to get, at least legally, and hard to get otherwise. With the advent of the Internet, the process became simpler, but access remained an issue. And with the advent of streaming services such as Pandora and Spotify, this issue became emphasized, since the draw of the latter services meant that some people were not as willing to download albums or songs anymore on BitTorrent.

So, it was a surprise to many that the entire collection of KLF Communications, the label The KLF created for their music, had been put up on the UK versions of iTunes, Spotify, and even Amazon Music Store yesterday. Those who live across the pond from this somewhat subversive publication (sponsored by American Family Insurance) were able to purchase and/or listen to these brilliant pieces freely. Things got weird, though, when with them came the appearance of unofficial albums such as The Lost Sounds of Mu and the OST to their unfinished film, The White Room. What would drive the duo to not only undelete their catalog, but also release bootleg albums that were not supposed to see the light of day? Some Discordian trick? A subversive attempt to make a second comeback?

Turns out the motives were more sinister: The KLF did not, in fact, undelete their catalog. A bootlegger managed to get into the good graces of these distributors and manipulate them into posting them online without the consent of The KLF. A Twitter-based investigation revealed the conspiracy, and subsequently the record collection has been re-deleted. It remains uncertain how a bootlegger managed to get these releases out there, other than perhaps with support from the Illuminati.

* The exception to this deletion was the Arista release of The White Room album, which The KLF had no control over. This album is also the lone release available to us Yanks, and has been available on iTunes for who knows how long.

If you like Deerhunter (and more specifically Deerhunter frontman Bradford Cox), then the upcoming Deerhunter-helmed ATP in Camber Sands, UK (June 21-23) is the must-see show for you this year. The Quietus is reporting that the curators will perform their three studio albums in their entirety (2007’s Cryptograms, 2008’s Microcastle, and 2010’s Halcyon Digest), Atlas Sound will do a set, and Atlas Sound collaborator Laetitia Sadier of Stereolab is also on the bill. Put on your fanciest sun dress and swing from the rafters in joy!

If that wasn’t enough, though, a who’s who of clear Deerhunter-influencers will also be on board, including The Breeders shambling their way through Last Splash, Wiliam Basinski recreating his Disintegration Loops, Kim Gordon performing with longtime collaborate Ikue Mori, Tom Tom Club, Rhys Chatham with Oneida, Pere Ubu, Dan Deacon, Avey Tare, Blues Control, former Talking Head Tina Weymouth, members of Broadcast, and more. It’s kind of a really good lineup.

Can’t make it to the UK this summer? Bummer, man. Maybe you can have a friend do a fake British accent while you listen to Microcastle on shitty headphones in a loud room? Just close your eyes and it’ll be like you’re there.

Did y’all see The Hobbit? It’s the touching story of a group of at least nine heroes venturing to the Dwarven homeland in hopes of retaking it from the fearsome dragon Smaug. It was based on a book by a British man.

Do y’all know Broken Social Scene? They’re a touching group of at least nine musicians who play a fluid, expansive brand of art rock. In a way, they remind me of the protagonists from Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit (box office of over $600 million), except, instead of embarking on an adventure, they’ve been on hiatus since November 2011. To mix similes, they’re more like Smaug, who slumbers for much of Warner Bros’ The Hobbit.

Much like how Smaug awakens at the film’s end (…spoiler?), Consequence of Sound reports that Broken Social Scene are awakening from their musical sleep to play Arts & Crafts Records’ Field Trip Music & Arts Festival. On June 8, the band will take the stage to cover onlookers in a terrible fire play some classic Broken Social Scene numbers from their four albums. Broken Social Scene members Leslie Feist and Jason Collett appear elsewhere on the festival’s bill, so it’s not unreasonable that they will make an appearance during Broken Social Scene’s set. Other acts playing the fest include Bloc Party, Ra Ra Riot, Hayden, and Timber Timbre, all of which will likely not appear during Broken Social Scene’s set and are really more of Harry Potter people anyway.

Citing personal reasons, he makes the result of his decision quite clear: “The band is now over and all tour dates are cancelled.” Solo material is still very much in the works for all former members, as ever, but Emeralds as a group is RIP 2006-2013. Listen to their final transmission, off last year’s Just to Feel Anything (TMT Review), below.

Beyoncé, I have bad news for you. You know my vision board? The one where you had a plumb spot in the center, right next to that picture of a Flying-V guitar? Well, it’s over. You’re just not vision board material anymore. These days, I’m more into your sister, Solange. She’s like a radiant star in the middle of my dreams, the likes of which include owning a big dog and flying a kite. And I just know she’ll love seeing this vision board when, as Pitchfork reports, she goes on tour for a string of dates this February.

These dates find Solange hopping all over the United States (with a little bit of Canada thrown in for good measure), supporting last year’s True EP. Or this year’s True EP, since it just got a physical release this week, if you’re a stickler for such things. You can argue about that. Me, I’ll be busy cutting out a picture of a basketball going through a basketball hoop.

Well fuck. I’m gonna make this quick. Looks like Lil B won’t be performing at the Grammys after all. He wasn’t selected as a finalist in CBS’ “Gig of a Lifetime” contest, which Nobodaddy was really hyping the other day. Word over at p4k is that Lil B might have been removed from the competition before CBS even announced the winners of his region. Did the pop-punk kids who beat him rig the whole thing?